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Body: Matt Rudd goes bouldering

Bouldering is climbing for rope-free purists. You’ll work up a healthy sweat through pure terror alone

Matt Rudd

April 3 2016, 1:01am, The Sunday Times

Illustration by Peter Gamlen

It has been suggested that indoor climbing is not only all the rage, but also an excellent way to get fit.

I don’t enjoy heights. I get disco leg changing a lightbulb. But I’ve done indoor climbing before. There are a lot of ropes. There’s a man holding the ropes. If you fall off, you don’t really fall at all. Easy.

So I book an introductory class at Karma Climbing in Kent and turn up full of the joys of spring.

The first thing I notice is that there are no ropes.

“Where are the ropes?” I ask Chris, my instructor.

“We don’t use ropes. This is a bouldering centre.”

Bouldering is climbing for nerds — sorry, purists. It’s not about how high you climb, it’s…